By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
Until Oct. 13, Manlius Library will be accepting submissions for a creative writing contest.
Interested adults and teenagers are invited to submit an original story for consideration in the first-ever Manlius Library WriterContest, which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 16 at the library located at One Arkie Albanese Ave.
“The writing contest will give us the opportunity to not only engage our adult writing community, but also to challenge the imaginations of local students and encourage young talent,” Manlius Library Director Jennifer Milligan said.
Author and Syracuse native Heidi Diehl will be the event’s keynote speaker.
Diehl’s debut novel “Lifelines” was named one of Cosmopolitan Magazine’s Best Books of June 2019 and one of O, The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books by Women of Summer 2019.
Contest winners will be announced the day of the contest festivities.
Adults and teenagers in sixth grade through 12th grade will be eligible to win goodie baskets including such prizes as Barnes & Noble gift cards.
The submissions will be judged by Manlius community members.
Each writer’s work will be assessed on the basis of overall writing prowess, originality, strength of plot, audience appeal, entertainment quality, setting and atmosphere, characterization, point of view and voice, clarity, grammar and writing mechanics.
Only one story per person will be allowed and work must be original, unpublished and written in English.
Participants are advised to exclude personal information from the submitted document to maintain anonymity.
Writers are also asked to refrain from including passages detailing explicit sex or violence in their short stories, thereby keeping the content appropriate for a wide audience.
Entries from teenagers in sixth grade through 12th grade may not exceed 1,500 words, excluding the title of the work.
Entries from adults ages 18 and older may not exceed 2,000 words, excluding the work’s title.
Stories exceeding the given word limits will be disqualified.
Writers will be given a starting phrase to work from to create their own original story.
Teenagers must use the following template supplied by the library: “You are in your backyard, raking leaves on a fall morning with your friend. The two of you pile the leaves into a single large pile. Your friend leaps into the leaf pile and disappears! Not knowing what else to do, you jump into the pile after your friend. Write a story about your adventure.”
Adults must start their story with the line “I never should have agreed to it” and work from there.
All entries need to be typed and submitted using the form on the library’s Biblioboard portal, which can be visited at manlius.librariesshare.com/writercontest/.
Once submitted, each story will become the property of Manlius Library and may be used on the library’s website, social media or otherwise made available to library patrons.
